ROK president says to seek realistic, practical ways for cooperation with DPRK

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea President Moon Jae-in said Monday that his government will seek realistic and practical ways for cooperation with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), and COVID-19 crisis can be an opportunity.

Moon made the remark during a meeting with his senior aides on the day to mark the second anniversary of the Panmunjom Declaration that was signed by Moon and top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un during their first summit on April 27, 2018 at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom, according to the presidential Blue House.

"(The ROK government) will go and find the most realistic and practical way for inter-Korean cooperation. The COVID-19 crisis can be a new opportunity for inter-Korean cooperation as it is the most urgent and desperate task to cooperate in as of now," Moon said.

Moon's comment indicated Seoul's willingness to cooperate with Pyongyang in tackling the coronavirus pandemic, which he said could become a starting point to expand inter-Korean cooperation into jointly dealing with infectious disease in domestic animals, natural disasters in border areas, and climate change.

"An inter-Korean life community can be a foundation to move towards a peace community," Moon noted.

To reconnect railways across the inter-Korean border, Moon vowed to do what South Korea can do first.

Earlier in the day, a ceremony was held in the northeastern border town of Jejin to launch the construction of the ROK section of the inter-Korean railway along the east coast of the Korean Peninsula.

The single-track railway reconnection spans 110.9 km from the east coastal city of Gangneung to Jejin. It is expected to cost about 2.85 trillion won (2.3 billion U.S. dollars).

The Gangneung-Jejin railroad is the southern section of the Donghae Bukbu Line, which was built during the 1910-1945 Japanese colonization of the peninsula but was severed during the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Moon and Kim agreed in their Panmunjom summit to modernize and re-link inter-Korean railways and roads along the eastern and western peninsula. The Donghae Bukbu Line construction project was pursued since 2000.

The ROK and the DPRK held a groundbreaking ceremony for the inter-Korean railway reconnection in December 2018, but construction works had been delayed amid the international sanctions toward Pyongyang.

The Moon government hoped to reconnect railways across the inter-Korean border, eventually connect to Europe through the Trans-China Railway (TCR) and the Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR).